The present invention relates to a vehicle safety bar assembly. More particularly, the invention relates to an impact-absorbing vehicle safety bar assembly mountable within the cavity of a vehicle door or panel.
Unfortunately, it is not an unusual occurrence for vehicle passengers to be killed or injured as a result of a side or a rear impact by another vehicle. As a result of a variety of reasons, including federal fuel economy standards, cost factor, etc., vehicle chassis and doors are made from extremely thin gauge metal. Indeed, it is not unusual today to be able to actually bend the metal of the vehicle door simply by pressing your thumb against it. In fact, a typical galvanized garbage can uses thicker metal to resist impact loads than most vehicles made today.
As a result, many vehicle manufacturers have voluntarily added internal side strengthening devices (see, for example, the additional lateral support 19 shown in FIG. 1 of U.S. pending application Ser. No. 365,251 entitled "AUTOMOTIVE WINDOW MOUNTING SYSTEM"). These internal strengthening devices add strength to the outer sheet metal to protect it from denting and to also possibly assist in preventing side or rear impact collisions from causing injury to the occupants of the vehicle. Other vehicle manufacturers simply add a steel pipe inside the vehicle door, paralleling the outer door skin, so as to provide side impact crash protection. However, the problem with the use of a bar or any typical side strengthening device is that upon a strong lateral force, it simply implodes or caves inwardly and it is often insufficient to prevent injury to the occupants.